Pro.manchester celebrates record membership levels on 25th anniversary
PRO.MANCHESTER is celebrating a year of record membership numbers, with more than 320 companies and 5,000 individuals.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the organisation, which was originally established as the Manchester Financial and Professional Forum.
“In a year we will organise over 120 events for our members including breakfast discussion groups, key lunches each month and our annual dinner in May each year,” said chief executive John Ashcroft.
This year the organisation launched its SME club, sponsored by RBS, which is a free advisory service for businesses in Greater Manchester.
“As a not for profit members organisation, we have extended the services to our members in the year with the appointment of a finance & administration manager and a marketing manager to work on SME club and all facets of the pro.manchester, marketing programme,” said Ashcroft.
It also held its first ever Pro.manchester Business Conference at The Point, Lancashire County Cricket Club, hosted by Kirsty Wark and Gavin Esler.
The 2012 conference will again be hosted by the pair, with Manchester-born Jim O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs (GS) Asset Management, already confirmed as one of the keynote speakers.
Other speakers include Angela Knight from the British Banking Association and Professor David Miles from the Monetary Policy Committee, while Paul Johnson from the IFS will discuss the government deficit plans and TV pundit Louise Cooper from BGC Capital partners will offer a critical view on developments in Europe.
The ever changing economic climate and its impact on business will no-doubt remain the hot topic for debate at the conference.
Ashcroft said: “Despite the problems in Europe the challenge remains to secure the correct policy for the domestic economy. Growth in 2011 and 2012 will be low – less than 1% in 2011 and not much more in the first half of 2012.
“The greatest problem facing any business is the uncertainty about policy and prospects in the years ahead. Despite the low growth this year, the government is on track to hit the borrowing target. A combination of the aggressive VAT rise and the impact of inflation and the so called fiscal drag should ensure the targets are met.”
Meanwhile, Pro.manchester’s new online innovations include the Greater Manchester Tweetmap, which lists the top organisations and individual Twitter users in the area. This month, Pro.manchester has also launched Manchester Business Events, an online service to promote events and activities of our members and associated organisations.
Ashcroft added: “The strength of a membership organisation is the involvement, engagement and commitment of members. For this we must maintain a challenging, stimulating, demanding programme of events and activities. We must continue to do this for the next twenty five years as we have done for the past twenty five years.”
